Friday, May 13, 2005

Life And Feedster And Death

The wait for the cable company to arrive begins now. 12-4. I'm betting on 3:55.

I got The Life Aquatic last night on DVD. Chan and I watched it normally, no commentary or anything, because when he saw it in the theater, he was stuck in the front row. "I only heard the movie," he said. I didn't mind watching it again normal-style, as it's one of my all-time favorites. Will catch up on the extras very soon.

Speaking of "Bye, Steve," I got an email from Steve, aka, the "big dog," aka the "grande dame," of Boston Dirt Dogs and Boston.com. This was a few weeks ago. It was a form letter saying that my blog had been selected for boston.com's Red Sox Feedster. I had already known that I was on there. In fact, this blog was one of the first to be on their list. I didn't even really know what was going on, except that I was getting a lot of hits from it. Anyway, then I got the letter from Steve, which also told me to play by their rules, like not swearing. Well, I wasn't about to change my blog. The whole point of this is to be able to say whatever I want. I don't work for them. In fact, it was classic Dirt Dog style. He didn't say, "If you want to stay on there, stop swearing," but rather, "Stop swearing." (Kind of like today, he said, "Gammons tells you what you were already thinking." Classic. Hey, what am I thinking now, Dirt Dog? Wrong. I wasn't thinking about how awesome you are, I was thinking about how ri-god-damn-diculous you are. Where was I? Oh, right, Feedster. Well, I don't swear much anyway, in fact probably less than all the other blogs on their list. So I thought, Whatever, that's cool. I'll get more hits. I'll still do exactly what I've been doing. The weird thing was, had Steve actually read my blog? Surely if he had, he wouldn't have chosen it for the Feedster, since I've repeatedly ripped his "tellin'-me-what-I-think" ass. I thought maybe it was a respect issue. Like, he was trying to be "classy," and put a different opinion than his up there. I didn't know, but I really didn't care. Then I noticed that Bullshit Memorial Stadium wasn't on the list, despite the fact that LOTS of other blogs were. I figured it was because of the word "bullshit." (Although I knew it wasn't dirt dog's type of blog either, but mine was on there, so what the hell?). So I posted about this, telling people who came here from Feedster to go over to BSM. This got me a letter from Feedster, not from Steve, but from a different guy. He said I was right, that BSM was good, and they'll soon make it the "Feed of the Day." (I don't know what that means, I can't find any mention of "Feed of the Day" on boston.com.)

I'm guessing this was the point where this other dude told Steve to put BSM on Feedster, at which point Steve said, "Hell, no. Who told you to do that?" And the other dude said, "That guy that rips you all the time." And Steve said, "Who rips me? Get his ass off of there, too!"

That's just my guess, because as of yesterday, my blog was taken down from the Feedster list. And BSM is still not on the list.

Maybe that's not why, maybe I swore or broke "their" rules somehow. But if they really are basing it on those rules, well, there shouldn't be any blogs on their list. I mean, does it count if you broke the rules before you were told about them?

Basically, this Feedster thing is fucking up a lot of blogs. Because you see the hits you're getting, and you think, "Well, I could swear here, or give a different opinion than dirt dog's, but to stay on the list, I'll just follow their rules." I know what this feels like, because I felt it myself. I'm just mad at myself for not having the gonads (ovaries AND testicles are gonads) to say all this while I was still on the Feedster.

So if you are on the Feedster, which most of you other blogs are, please, for the sake of integrity and individuality, do what you've always done. Don't let people impose rules on you. Don't censor yourself. And here's something encouraging: I got MORE hits the day after I got kicked off Feedster than I did the previous day. I am grateful to them for putting me on, even if it was a mistake. It got me a lot more readers. And as Ice Cube once said, "I got what I want, now beat it." I'd rather be linked by a real person who wants to be friends with me and likes my blog, and hopes I'll like theirs. I don't care if I never get a hit from their site.

So, alas, Feedster, I hardly knew ye, ye fascist.

(Yes, I realize there's a chance that maybe they just took mine down by accident, and they were about to put it back up, but now that I made fun of them, I actually will be kicked off. Well, either way, they did kick me off, and didn't even tell me they were doing it. And the whole thing is rooted in DirtDogness, which I don't want to have an association with anyway.)

And now to Michael Ross. This asshole wanted to die. He wanted to take the easy way out. And the state of Connecticut gave him exactly what he wanted, executing him this morning. Why give him what he wanted? Why not make him live with what he had done. The guy thought he was so cool. And he tricked everybody. The familes of victims still suffer every day, while the killer is put out of his misery. Even if I was pro-death penalty, I'd have been against it in this case.

Terrible job, Connecticut. I can see cave people using the "eye for an eye" logic. But we are a civilized society. How can we let this happen? To say "killing is bad and not allowed, and if you do it, we'll kill your ass" is hypocritical. TJ.

Note: I didn't get to post this until after 6 because of internet connection problems. And I was wrong about the cable guy, he came at 4:07. Terrible job again.

I don't think the government ever said killing was bad. That wouldn't make much sense, seeing as how the president is commander-in-chief of the military, and militaries exist to kill people.

Civilized. Yes we are. Or so we say we are. But civilization is a tricky thing. Hard to define. The good of the many balancing the good of the few. Get enough people together in one place at the same time, and it's inevitable that somebody's toes are gonna be stepped on.

Personally, I'm all for capital punishment. In this case, though, I hafta agree with you: he wanted to die, that's no way to punish him.

Not to turn this blog into a discourse on the merits or demerits of capital punishment, but the government says killing is wrong every day. This is why people get arrested for murder.

Now, in a strict Weberian sense, governments are governments because they control the right to use violence - military, corporal punishment, etc. But simply because the government uses it in one case and doesn't in another is not a particularly convincing argument for capital punishment. I'm not saying one doesn't exist - I'm essentially anti-death penalty, but I guess I don't see the pro- or anti- debate in quite as morally black-and-white terms.

In an attempt to be 'on topic' I will say that BDD is one of the worst pieces of tripe I've read, and the fact that the Glob links to it instead of any number of reasonable and interesting Sox blogs out there is further evidence that it's no longer anywhere close to 'the world's greatest sports section'.

I'm actually actively petitioning the Globe/ Feedster thing in an effort to see how far I can bend and promise them I'll do whatever they want- that way, they'll have no reasons to say "no" to me, even though Steve will be laying down the law on that one. I'll tell em I'll change the name of my blog (I won't) and that I'll stop swearing (I'd never), and eventually they'll have to come back and say "well, see, there's this idiot on our payroll..."

Actually maybe I shouldn't map out strategy on a very well read blog.

I, of course, thank you for the kind words/ support though Jere. Excellent job by you.

Also- I got the Life Aquatic on DVD today too. DId you get the two disc edition, or the single? I went double, personally.

Censorship. Who needs it? I’ve had issues with my own blog and feedster. Meaning, they don’t deem its content “feedster worthy.” I am not going to lose any sleep over that one, especially if, like you say, they frown upon swearing. A blog, to me, is a place you write in the same manner in which you might speak in your living room. And, during games, there is plenty of swearing in my living room. It’s baseball, for goodness sake. One of my last posts is riddled with naughty words. I guess in dirt dog’s world, swearing is out, but homophobia is a-ok. What a hypocrite.

Kind of funny seeing Steve Silva telling people not to swear. I sometimes even wonder if he realizes the hypocrisy/irony of his actions sometimes.

I think you are better off staying away from Feedster. You really don't need it, and you definitely don't need to associate or kowtow in any way shape or form to Silva and the idiots at Boston.com that don't even realize what they have on their hands.

I found this place through Bull Shit and Empyreal's Environs. I enjoy all three of your styles, and I would hate to see any of you compromise your blogs for something you don't even need.

I'll probably end up getting a harshly worded email from DD for writing this, but I guess that's why they invented junk mail folders.

I admit I'm still scratching my head over that Feedster thing. I mean, how did a Boston/Detroit blog read by all of 5 people get on there in the first place? And I rather think I swear more often than you do.

The ironic thing, of course, is that my hits have gone up a bit recently, but not a terribly large amount, and most of them are coming from other blogs who link to me, not from the Feedster thing. Oh well.